Report Design Best Practices
Peter EvansJanuary, 2014
Information Management
A Little History
• William Henry Playfair – (1790 – 1857)– Inventor of the Statistical Graph
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Many roads lead to data insights
EXAMPLE: How many customers & products do I have?
EXAMPLE: How many sales reps sell Product X vs. Product Y?
EXAMPLE: How many of Product X have I sold in US vs. UK in the last quarter?
EXAMPLE:
How will monsoons impact my sales in Indonesia and parts availability from my suppliers next quarter?
EXAMPLE: Why is Product X more popular with teenagers vs. middle age men?
Simple data recording and
tracking
Logical storage
Agility and interactivity for
KPIs
Predictions based on trends
Customer behavioral insights
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Visual Design Pointers
• A Picture is worth a thousand words as the saying goes – how do we as report designers deliver this to our customers:
– We do not notice the most powerful designs. – Understanding the ability to turn something incredibly complex into something simple is the real power of a
good report designer.– Design does not happen by accident. It is the product of careful and deliberate planning.
• We as humans are a visual race – most of our experiences especially now in the digital age are of a visual nature therefore as a report designer you must understand what this mean for your reports and how they are delivered.
• Less is more.• Where is your report being used – hard copy, dashboard, mobile?
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Just because we have color we don’t need to use it
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Views from Toad Decision Point
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Bold is good – but not for all
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Views from Toad Decision Point
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What Format – How to Filter
• Know your audience– Understand who is going to view your reports– Prototype the report with a number of users– Decide how much information the user requires
› C Level executives need overviews – Sales managers need regional figures› LOB Analyst’s require to be able to manipulate and change data views› Casual viewers require no ability to filter or change the data
• Where is your data being delivered from – is it single source or does it require you to provide a view of the data distinct to the report requirements
• Excel conditional formatting is still data in a grid but with colors
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Filter your data for each report build your own views
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Views from Toad Data Point
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Tell a Story with your report
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Views from Toad Decision Point
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Company Styles – What, where and when
• Be aware of company branding – what is allowed and what is not• Does your design have a customer facing part – this will need branding approval possibly• Are your reports printable – ensure that they carry your company name and a date when printed• Ensure that data from other sources that are attributable are referenced in the report footers
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Examples of Company Styles
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Views from Full Circle, truPulse and Neways
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Sharing your beautiful work
• Web Portals• Share Point• BI Vendor exclusive portals• Cloud
• Security• Branding• Copyright
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Examples of Portals
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Views from Tableau, Birst and Information Builders
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Pros and Cons – Portals/Cloud/SharePoint
• Portals require you to buy the software and you are then tied to this delivery system• Portals are easy to access from all types of devices including mobile
• Cloud for some industries still has security concerns• No on premise infrastructure cuts down in costs and maintenance
• Sharepoint is easy to get started with and is tuned to other office applications from Microsoft• For anything than a basic implementation – users must be trained to gain the full benefits.
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Security/Branding/Copyright
• For public reports ensure that the data can be viewed by the public• Brand all data that is proprietary and ensure copyright and trade marks are visible
• Ensure that your report data always starts at the most secure level when distributing it to other users• Try not to distribute data via email – use file shares to secure access
• Data that leaves the company via email should be password protected at all times
• Data used in your reports from other sources should be referenced correctly
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Q&A
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Further Information, Reading and Help
• Toad Bi Weekly webcast on Data Integration:– http://www.quest.com/webcast/easily-access-prepare-analyze-and-share-data-from-any-
source824442.aspx• Toad World:
– http://www.toadworld.com/• Perceptual Edge – Stephen Few
– http://www.perceptualedge.com/• Peter Evans
– [email protected]– [email protected]–
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